Cold.

Noisy.

Painful.

Kyungsoo slowly opened his eyes. The noise around him got even louder. He squinted and then blinked. The painful stinging of his leg made him wince. “He’s awake” a familiar voice said. He turned his head to his right and saw Sehun looking at him worriedly. Kyungsoo noticed the bandage on his friend’s forehead. “Are you okay?”

He nodded before pushing his body up with the use of his other hand. He sat up and that was the time that he noticed that he was surrounded by other beds with kids on them. They’re not in the school; he was sure of it.

“What happened? Where are Kai and Hana?” Sehun asked, still looking at his puzzled friend’s face.

Kyungsoo looked at his hands, trying to recall what happened before he passed out. “I don’t know. Kai was attacking me then…”

“K-Kai attacked you?”

Kyungsoo shut his eyes then nodded, letting go of a heavy sigh. “He was controlled…just like what happened to me. I heard Hana scream…then I…I don’t know what happened next”

“Hey” L said with a slight smile as he approached them. He looked like he needed some rest. “I’m glad you’re fine” he continued before looking at Kyungsoo’s leg which was wrapped with bandage. “Yeah, me too” Kyungsoo muttered before looking around.

“Where’s Woohyun?” he asked. He noticed how the expressions of his friends changed. “Did something happen to him?” he asked worriedly. “He’s fine now. Hana’s mom treated him so he’s fine now. He just needs some rest” Sehun replied, patting him on the back.

“Hana’s mom?”

They nodded. The door opened and Heesoo and Jaejoong entered the room, walking straight to where Kyungsoo was. “What happened? Do you know where they are?” Jaejoong asked. Kyungsoo stared at them for some times before shaking his head. “I don’t know what happened after I heard Hana scream. Jaehyun…Jaehyun was there…maybe he knows”

Kyungsoo noticed how they all hung their head down after he said Jaehyun’s name. “W-Why? Did something happen to him?”

“We found Jaehyun dead” Jaejoon replied. “Wh-What?” Kyungsoo asked, stuttering, eyes wide open. He covered his face with both hands before taking a deep sigh. “This is my entire fault…if only I was able to control my mind…this would’ve not happened. I-I-”

“It’s not your fault” Heesoo said, patting him on the back. Seeing everything crumble into pieces is making her lose hope but then again they’ve been through a lot of things, this is not the time to bawl about something. They need to be strong if they want to find them. She wanted to find them as soon as possible. She couldn’t help but worry about her daughter’s safety but she’s holding unto that single thread of hope that they will find them soon.

She thought something was wrong when the chairman’s men suddenly started to retreat when they were all fighting at the school. She just never thought that they would take Hana and Kai from them. The chairman does know how to play dirty. She’s sure that that old hag has them but their whereabouts is just not too clear.

Heesoo looked at the kids around them. She wanted to protect them. Junsu would also want that to happen if he was there, she’s sure of that.

“Wait, how about the kid?”

“She’s fine. She’s resting”

He nodded, a little feeling of relief came to him.

“We found them!”

They all looked at the door where TOP was standing. Mino came next.

“Where?”

“At an abandoned factory building. We need people to go and to stay here” Mino replied. “I want to come with you” Sehun raised his hand. Jaejoong looked at him and shook his head, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Stay here with your friends. We need people to stay with the kids too”

Jaejoong looked at Heesoo and at TOP. “Seunghyun, you stay”

“What? Why?”

“I agree with him. Stay here Seunghyun” Heesoo said, looking at TOP. “Jaejoong, Jonghoon and Heesoo will come with me and my men. The other teachers will stay here” Mino said.

Any complaints will not be entertained and they knew that. They all looked at each other before the three made their way out of the room.

“Please be safe” Kyungsoo mumbled, shutting his eyes.

The men sitting around a big rectangular table had their eyes on the man sitting at the end. He had his hands clasped together, thinking about something so deep.

“Mr. President, what are we going to do with this?” one man asked.

“The civilians are in shock and trauma after what just happened in that school. Are we just going to stay put and wait for what will happen next? What if something like this happens again?” another added.

“But let us not forget that they’re also citizens of this country. Alice users have been helping us in different aspects of this country. They’ve been active in the military and in protecting our country-”

“And that is scarier now that we think of it. They’ve been into our security systems for so long. What if they revolt against the government? What will happen to us? They have extra ordinary abilities that we don’t have. They can kill us all if they want to.”

“Then why not make studies about them in order for us to know how to counter them?”

“Are we waging war in here? They’re not guinea pigs for experimentation!”

“You know what? You’re only talk! Do you know how much fear they’ve been planting into our families? If we don’t make a move now, they will be all over us!”

“That’s not going to happen!”

“Mr. President?” the man beside the president who has been keeping his silence during the heated argument said in a soft voice. The president looked at him.

“The civilians are starting to protest about the event. It looks like there are cases of assault. Alice users have already sent their complaints about this”

The president sighed and clasped his hands once again. They all looked at him.

“We need first to come up with a plan. We don’t want them to overtake whatever Non-Alice users have been working on until these days”

“Oppa”

Kai slowly opened his eyes after hearing that familiar voice. He squinted before getting up. He was sitting on a sofa inside their old house. A sudden fleeting feeling of nostalgia took over him as everything that he had experienced in that house came to his mind.

“Oppa”

He turned to his left where a girl was standing with a smile on his face. Jaehee. An involuntary smile came to his face when he saw his younger sister. When was the last time that he saw her? He couldn’t even remember how she looks like with a smile.

“Oppa, welcome home” she said, running towards him and giving him a hug. Everything felt so real and so warm. It has been so long since Kai was hugged by her. Suddenly, he felt everything turned so hot like something was being burned. Jaehee pushed his hard, making him stumble on the sofa.

His eyes were wide open when he saw the house burning. He could feel the prickling hot feeling of the fire on his skin. Jaehee was crying. “Oppa, why?” she asked between sobs. Kai looked at her and that was the only time that he noticed the scar on her left cheek. Right, she had that scar since that incident.

“Jaehee, I’m sorry” he mumbled, trying to walk near her.

“Stop right there! Don’t come near me!!” she screamed. Kai’s feet were like glued on the floor. “This is your entire fault” she continued. His heart sunk so low that he felt like just wanted to run away. “Jaehee, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“Don’t come near me!!”

Kai stared at his sister. His sister has the entire right to scream at him. In the first place, he was the reason why she got that scar. Because of his Alice, she got burnt, leaving that ugly scar to remind her of the painful incident.

“I hate you”

Those three words were more than enough to make his world crumble. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks. “Jaehee” he mumbled, taking another step.

“You’re the reason why mom’s dead!!”

He stopped, looking at his sister in disbelief. He shook his head. “No, it’s not my fault”

“What did you do, Jongin?”

He turned around and saw his father staring back at him with a stoic expression.

“Father…” he mumbled. “I-I did not do anything…”

His father walked towards Jaehee and hugged her as if protecting her from his own son. “Why can’t you control your Alice? Why are you causing too much trouble?”

Kai shook his head. “I did not do anything…th-this is not my fault…father…Jaehee…”

Hana’s head felt so light that she thought she was seeing things. She could smell charcoal like scent around her. With all her energy, she tried to sat up but the she ended up lying on the ground on her side. The stinging of her arm was still there.

She heard footsteps coming towards her. As she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of shoes just in front of her. The man crouched and touched her hair with a sinister laughter. “Who would have thought that you’d end up on my hands again, right? Lee Hana?”

She looked at the man just to be welcomed by the chairman’s face with a devilish smiled on his face. “They’ll be here sooner or later. Your mother’s not going to abandon you” his face suddenly turned serious. “Like how he just abandoned me because of your father. If only you have her Alice…tsk, tsk…” he shook his head. 

“She did the right thing” Hana mumbled, loud enough for the old man to hear it. He glared at her before cocking a brow. “What?”

“She did the right thing” she repeated, earning a loud laugh from the chairman. “Now that I look at you…you really do resemble your father…and I hate that”

He pulled her up to sit; her back on the cold wall. Her arm was still bleeding. “For the last time, why not look at your friend here? I think it will be a very nice experience…” the chairman said before pointing to the room on his left.

She saw Kai lying on the ground, not moving. “What did you do to him?” she asked, trying to move an inch but her body is not listening to her. The rope tied on her leg and arms were so tight that she felt like her flesh was being torn every move she made.

“He’s just having a dream or should I say a nightmare. Right now, he’s seeing the things that he feared the most. What do you think are those?” the old man asked, once again crouching to match her height.

“You’re really a crazy person” she spat with hatred. Instead of getting angry, he smiled at her. “I’ll take that as a compliment” he said before looking at Kai. “Alices can be used to let people be in pain, you know that? Weak people like him will not survive…don’t you think so?”

She wanted to punch him across the face but what can she do with her arms tied? That’s the least of her problems; Kai is running out of time with what they’re doing with him. Kai started screaming in pain while struggling with the rope al